• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

vintage watch -$1000

Superfluous

Distinguished Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
3,077
Reaction score
236
Originally Posted by Jay Gatsby
I have a nice looking Seamaster from the 60s. I paid less than $400. I have to bump it after winding to get it started, but it works great besides.

I have a nice looking Omega from the 40s. I paid less than $350 I think. It works great.

From my experience, vintage watches that are automatic have more issues than those that are not automatic. But my experience is limited. Make sure the auction specifies when the watch was last serviced. Make sure the seller has good and several ratings. You can get a nice Omega for less than $500.



Any good ebay sellers you know of?
 

Jay Gatsby

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2009
Messages
861
Reaction score
4
Originally Posted by Tony Romo
Any good ebay sellers you know of?

I just search for my criteria and go with a seller who has a lot of good feedback. This method has not failed me yet.
 

Last Year's Man

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
103
Reaction score
1
some great advice here, thank you all very much. I'm always alittle wary of buying from ebay because i'm not a great watch expert - I'm concerned I could easily be tricked into buying something shoddy that would stop working in a short amount of time. Outside of ebay I saw a early 60's seamaster in an old jewellers today in gold for £550, does that seem about right or am I being ripped off?

Some lovely suggestions, the IWC watches of that era are beautiful but I can't find any in my price range, maybe I'm just not looking hard enough...

The Hamilton's are also very nice but I think my heart is set on a seamaster, your help however, is very much appreciated.

So I guess the next question is; how do I know if I'm getting a good deal - how can I tell what kind of condition a watch is in aside from the cosmetic stuff?
 

Superfluous

Distinguished Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
3,077
Reaction score
236
Originally Posted by Last Year's Man
some great advice here, thank you all very much. I'm always alittle wary of buying from ebay because i'm not a great watch expert - I'm concerned I could easily be tricked into buying something shoddy that would stop working in a short amount of time. Outside of ebay I saw a early 60's seamaster in an old jewellers today in gold for £550, does that seem about right or am I being ripped off?

Some lovely suggestions, the IWC watches of that era are beautiful but I can't find any in my price range, maybe I'm just not looking hard enough...

The Hamilton's are also very nice but I think my heart is set on a seamaster, your help however, is very much appreciated.

So I guess the next question is; how do I know if I'm getting a good deal - how can I tell what kind of condition a watch is in aside from the cosmetic stuff?



I've been reading these, it might help:

http://people.timezone.com/pauld/tzp...t_timers1.html
 

Superfluous

Distinguished Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
3,077
Reaction score
236
Sorry about threadjacking, but if anyone knows a lot about vintage watches and wants to help me find one, I'll pay you $10?
 

Jay Gatsby

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2009
Messages
861
Reaction score
4
Originally Posted by Tony Romo
Sorry about threadjacking, but if anyone knows a lot about vintage watches and wants to help me find one, I'll pay you $10?

ebay.com, look for a 40s to 60s era Omega that you like. Check the description to see if it has been serviced in the past few years. Check the seller's rating and feedback (both score and number). Buy the watch. Pay less than $500. Send me $10.
 

venessian

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Messages
3,204
Reaction score
1,923
Originally Posted by Jay Gatsby
ebay.com, look for a 40s to 60s era Omega that you like. Check the description to see if it has been serviced in the past few years. Check the seller's rating and feedback (both score and number). Buy the watch. Pay less than $500. Send me $10.

Right.
plain.gif


That is, unless the seller happens to have, by sheer good fortune, 5-25+ "gorgeous" and "perfect" and "exquisite" "recently serviced Omegas" shipping from Thailand, Singapore, China, etc.; or the watch has recently been "fully reconditioned, recently oiled, refinished dial" (avoid that seller); etc., etc....

Even with the +++!!! feedback. There are MANY idiot buyers on eBay.

Essentially: Buyer beware, on eBay, esp. in re: major brands.

Send me $0. Keep them to put towards a prudent and considered purchase.
 

Jay Gatsby

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2009
Messages
861
Reaction score
4
Originally Posted by venessian
Right.
plain.gif


That is, unless the seller happens to have, by sheer good fortune, 5-25+ "gorgeous" and "perfect" and "exquisite" "recently serviced Omegas" shipping from Thailand, Singapore, China, etc.; or the watch has recently been "fully reconditioned, recently oiled, refinished dial" (avoid that seller); etc., etc....

Even with the +++!!! feedback. There are MANY idiot buyers on eBay.

Essentially: Buyer beware, on eBay, esp. in re: major brands.

Send me $0. Keep them to put towards a prudent and considered purchase.


Wow thanks for the advice guy who joined the forum two months ago after reading about it in a newspaper. Your advice is terrible. Practice.
 

venessian

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Messages
3,204
Reaction score
1,923
Originally Posted by Jay Gatsby
Wow thanks for the advice guy who joined the forum two months ago after reading about it in a newspaper. Your advice is terrible. Practice.

Terrible advice? How so? If you think that buying watches on eBay is easy and that there are no frauds there, more power to you. If the OP or others want to follow your advice, more power to them.

I don't think that "Buyer Beware" is "terrible advice"; heck, I even read that in some newspaper in Rome, way back in the day, iirc. I certainly don't see the relevancy of my join date on this forum. All in the spirit of the bombastic douchery of your reply, though, I suppose.
dozingoff.gif
 

imatlas

Saucy White Boy
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
24,697
Reaction score
28,399
Originally Posted by Jay Gatsby
Wow thanks for the advice guy who joined the forum two months ago after reading about it in a newspaper. Your advice is terrible. Practice.

Seriously? I thought it was excellent advice. Yours as well, they are not mutually exclusive.
 

Superfluous

Distinguished Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
3,077
Reaction score
236
is a reconditioned dial bad?
reserviced bad?

What's good and what's bad?
 

venessian

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Messages
3,204
Reaction score
1,923
Originally Posted by Tony Romo
is a reconditioned dial bad?
reserviced bad?

What's good and what's bad?


Neither are bad per se.

However, a reconditioned/repainted dial generally lowers the value of a watch, if that watch is of collectible value in the first place, because it is no longer original. Also, the reconditioning can be badly done, and that's not always easy to see via internet photos that some seller has posted.

Reserviced is not bad at all; obviously it is in fact a requirement on any mechanical watch, every 2/3/4 years.

My comments above and here are primarily in reference to eBay sellers. There is no way of knowing if the seller is a good watch repair person, etc., so no real way to know if the work is up to standard. Obviously, as Gatsby indicated above, feedback is one standard. If the seller sells only watches, and has 500 + feedback, that can be reassuring. I still think it is a crap shoot, unless one is very careful. A $450 "awesome deal" that requires $250 or more worth of work 2 weeks or 2 months after arrival isn't such an "awesome deal" after all....

It is a fact that many fakes are coming out of the Far East. Would one really buy a "Panerai", "Rolex", or "Omega" from Thailand, Singapore, China, etc., even Italy, on eBay? Where did those watches come from? What is the provenance? Etc. I would be extremely leery, because much can be falsified on eBay and recourse is difficult.

The are US, Swiss, etc. brick & mortar watch shops that do sell on eBay as well, and I would be more confident buying from them. If a seller can provide not only identifiable serial numbers, but also certificates, perhaps the box...those are positives.

There are shops that can expertly recondition dials and service watches. Given that, if I were buying a watch on eBay (and I have) I would look to buy an original (not reconditioned) in excellent condition (I mean aesthetically) with lots of good photos, serial number, hopefully some paperwork.

I would prefer that the watch not have been serviced by the seller (whose capabilities I do not know), but that I buy the watch and then have my local, trusted shop check it and then do any servicing required. That check/service can first assure me in 30 seconds that watch is in fact the same watch, movement, etc. described by the seller; it comes with a 2 year guarantee; it will be done by the same shop periodically in the future as well; and is accessible to me in person, not via eBay/PayPal to some other country in case the watch arrives and is defective. If the eBay seller has a "no returns"policy, I'm not buying. Period.

That's my advice.
If some find it "terrible", fine with me.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 60 38.7%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.4%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 18.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,165
Messages
10,579,154
Members
223,885
Latest member
Jones&co
Top